When We Left Earth, Cars version
by Breakaway25
Summary: In 1969, a group of astronauts, changed the world. They ride the biggest rocket ever created, to the moon. It's the culmination of more than 10 years of space pioneering. This is the story of our greatest adventure and the journey that was required to achieve it. This is the story of NASA
1. Prologue: Red Moon

**January, 31, 1958, Cape Canaveral, FL**

The flat beach spread for miles in every direction, unbroken save for the presence of a single 65 foot white tower. The tower stood bathed in the bright glow of a ring of spotlights. To its spectators it looked for the world to be nothing more than a giant metal tube, but to its designers it was much more.

Then a signal was given and the top section of the tower began to spin. It spun faster and faster until it was nothing but a blur. A second signal was sent, and a mighty roar was heard throughout the facility. A ball of pure white fire erupted from the tower's base and it slowly, but surly, began to claw its way into the night air.

It climbed higher and higher into the sky, slowly shrinking until it was nothing but a faint speck of light, high in the sky. It would be several minutes before it would be known whether or not the mission was a success or if it was just another of the many failures that seemed to be piling up.

Wait, was that it, faintly coming down from the heavens from which it had just ascended. A faint radio contact relaying a simple audio signal. While unintelligible to any who chose to listen directly, the very presence of the signal meant that the mission was accomplished, the payload was in place. Hanging in the night sky hundreds of miles above them, a new body hung in orbit, a new satellite. This satellite came not from outside, but was launched from within. The vessel's name was as simple as its construction: _Explorer_.

It was a first, the first successful attempt by this nation to launch such a satellite, but by no means would it be their last venture beyond the bounds of the world in which they called home. This is the story of their journey beyond the surly bonds of Earth.


	2. Chapter 1: 15 minutes of fame

**Author's Note**: Bit of a short chapter here, mainly because I had forgotten that I had written this much. This story is a bit low on my "Priority Update" list so don't be surprised if it takes a bit longer to update it than the rest of my stories.

Recommended soundtrack for this story: **From the Earth to the Moon: ** watch?v=o8FCkwPx0LA

great music from a great series. Pretty much the reason I wanted to do this story was because I watched that series.

* * *

**April, 12, 1961, White House, Washington D.C.**

The conference room was small. A minor space, given over to be used for situations just like this. A place for high-ranking officials to meet and discuss situations, off the record. It was rather bare for this particular meeting, only four cars were in a room designed to handle at least twelve. The cars there were from a very specific field, and they had met to discuss a situation that was still developing. The roll of present personnel included the current director of NASA, an Army general in charge of missile development, the chairman of the senate subcommittee on science, and the President's space adviser. "What does this mean for us," asked the general.

"It means the Ruskies beat us, they got a car up first," the space adviser replied.

"Plane, he was a plane," the NASA director commented.

"Excuse me?"

"The vehicle who rode that capsule, Yuri Gagarin, is a plane. A MIG-15 to be exact."

"What this means is that the Ruskies have beat us twice, and now that they see the gold in sight, they're not gonna stop until they get to the moon," the senator said, returning the room to the original subject.

"A red moon, that's something none of us want to see. They could put nukes up there and we could do nothing to stop them," the General commented.

"The way I see it the solution is simple, beat the reds to the moon," the NASA director stated.

"I'm going to have to recommend the President that there is no gain to be had from a trip to the moon, except a couple of rocks," the space adviser stated, outright.

"The vehicle who first drives onto the moon will be remembered for all time," the senator commented.

"Especially when he sticks Old Glory in it and salutes," the general added.

"We haven't even gotten into space ourselves yet and we're already talking about a trip to the moon?" the space adviser asked, rhetorically.

"We've already have plans to put Shepard up on one the Redstone's. Hell we would've had him up last week, but the firing circuit malfunctioned. Give us two, maybe three weeks," the NASA director stated.

"Well, here's hopin that the second vehicle in space is a free one," the General said.

* * *

**May, 5, 1961, Cape Canaveral **

"I'm being told that the launch is experiencing another delay," the TV new reporter said into his camera. His report was being watched by thousands all around the US. Thousands who were eagerly awaiting news of the first American in space Three miles away from where he sat, delivering his report, rested the tall white spire of the Redstone rocket that would carry the first American into space. The launch had been planed for two hours previous, but a series of delays had forced it to be pushed back. Now the problems had been resolved and the countdown had restarted.

"Hey Gordo, when're we gonna light this thing," called Alan Shepard, the astronaut currently inside of the small Mercury capsule atop the rocket. Shepard was a navy plane, a jet who bore a passing resemblance to the current crop of naval aviators. His call was heard back inside of the small mission control room.

"He's right, let's light this candle," called Gordon Cooper, an astronaut himself, the capsule communicator of Capcom. The flight director, a small car named Chris Kraft, was driving back and forth when reached a decision.

"Let's light this candle. Resume the countdown. I need a go, no-go for launch. Prop?" Kraft called out.

"Go."

"FIDO?"

"Go."

"Surgeon?"

"Go flight

"Systems?"

"Systems go."

"Retro?"

"Go."

"Capcom?"

"Go flight. Let's light the candle," Cooper called back.

"Countdown recommencing at T-minus 40 seconds, now," Kraft ordered.

"Ignition, we have liftoff." To the spectators outside the countdown on the speakers had been a bit off a surprise. The rocket launching had been even more of one. All of a sudden the entire area was bathed in a tremendous roar as the Redstone rocket began its ascent.

"Roger, liftoff, and the clock has started," Shepard called from the capsule, he was straining to speak as he was pressed into the seat.

"You are on you way, Jose," Cooper called back. The rocket continued to climb into the atmosphere. It continued to accelerate, putting even more force on Shepard. When the rocket ran out of fuel, Shepard was thrown beyond the Earth's atmosphere. The capsule separated and he began to float free. He felt an unreal feeling, he was weightless. Then he saw it through his window, the Earth rotating below him in all of its glory. "I have visual through the window. Wow this is really beautiful," was heard back at mission control.

"Roger that Alan, can't wait to see the pictures. We want you to go to manual control. See how she flies," Cooper asked.

"Roger, control, switching to manual. It rides pretty smooth." Shepard spun, twisted, and yawed the capsule testing out the RCS jets. When it reached the apogee of its trajectory, the capsule began to plummet back to the Earth. Shepard pointed in the right orientation to allow for the heat shield of the bottom to take the heat of reentry.

The capsule broke finished its reentry and its parachutes deployed, braking it descent. They had done it, America had launched a vehicle into a space.


End file.
